(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal that supports a chatting function using a short message service, and a chatting service method. More particularly, it relates to a mobile communication terminal having a user interface (UI) for providing a chatting service such as a messenger by using a short message service, and a chatting service method using the mobile communication terminal.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A mobile communication terminal is used as a portable telephone and for transmitting/receiving various information in the form of characters or images and receiving various information through a wireless Internet. In addition, the mobile communication terminal uses a short message service (SMS) to provide information between users, between a mobile communication service provider and a user, and between a company and a user.
The SMS is bi-directional and is capable of transmitting and receiving a short text message of approximately 80 bytes to 90 bytes regardless of a call between mobile communication terminals, and, unlike email, the SMS has a merit of transmitting a short text message to a recipient's mobile communication terminal almost simultaneously with a transmission time so that the population using a SMS is rapidly increasing.
The SMS basically transmits a recall number and a message between mobile communication terminals, and also provides various text-type information including bank account inquiries, money transfers, exchange rate information, travel information, traffic information, weather information, leisure information, television programs, news, stock information, and advertising. In addition, the SMS can be utilized in an electronic-billing system or electronic business where credit card companies transmit/receive an approval of a contract through a text message in order to prevent problems related to a credit card from occurring.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a mobile communication system that provides a SMS.
The mobile communication system providing the SMS includes a transmitting-side mobile communication terminal 110, a transmitting-side radio base station 120, a mobile communication switching center (MSC) 130, a short message centre (SMC) 140, a receiving-side radio base station 150, and a receiving-side mobile communication terminal 160.
The transmitting-side mobile communication terminal 110 can make a wireless phone call with another mobile communication terminal through the mobile communication network, and it generates a short message to be transmitted by using a message generation function and transmits the generated message through the mobile communication network.
The transmitting-side radio base station 120 includes a transmitting-side base station transmission system (BTS) 122, a transmitting-side base station controller (BSC) 124, and an enhancer (not shown), and it transmits location information of the transmitting-side mobile communication terminal 110, registered-user information, and a short message generated by the transmitting-side mobile communication terminal 110 to the MSC 130.
The receiving-side radio base station 150 includes a transmitter 152, a controller 154, and an enhancer, and transmits location information and registered-user information of the receiving-side mobile communication terminal 160 to the mobile communication switching center 130, and transmits the short message that has been generated by the transmitting-side mobile communication terminal 110 and transmitted through the MSC 130 to the receiving-side mobile communication terminal 160.
The MSC 130 performs a control function for efficient operations of the radio base stations 120 and 150 and an interacting function with a switch of a general switched telephone network (GSTN), transmits the short message transmitted through the transmitting-side radio base station 120 to the SMC 140 for storing the short message therein, receives the short message from the SMC 140, and delivers the short message to the receiving-side radio base station 150. When registration of locations of the transmitting-side and receiving-side mobile communication terminals 110 and 160 is performed by the transmitting-side and receiving-side radio base stations 120 and 150, the MSC 130 temporarily stores subscriber information of the transmitting-side and receiving-side mobile communication terminals 110 and 160 with a visitor location register (VLR) in the MSC 130, and then requests registration of the locations of the transmitting-side and receiving-side mobile communication terminals 110 and 160 from a home location register (HLR).
The SMC 140 is connected with the MSC 130 and forwards a short message to mobile communication subscribers. The SMC 140 enables various text message transmission systems (e.g., a PC communication system, a server system, a mobile communication terminal, and so on) to bi-directionally transmit/receive messages (e.g., numbers and characters) to/from subscribers through the mobile communication network. A mobile communication subscriber may transmit a text message through the transmitting-side mobile communication terminal 110. When a text message that has been sent by a transmitting-side mobile communication terminal cannot be directly transmitted to a receiving-side mobile communication terminal 160, the text message is stored in the SMC 140 for a predetermined period of time set by the transmitting-side mobile communication terminal or until the receiving-side mobile communication terminal can receive the message. The message is deleted by the SMC 140 after the receiving-side mobile communication terminal checks the message transmitted from the transmitting-side mobile communication terminal. In addition, when a predetermined time period has passed or when the message cannot be transmitted within an effective time set by the transmitting-side mobile communication terminal, the message is deleted.
The receiving-side mobile communication terminal 160 makes a phone call upon a call request signal transmitted through the mobile communication network, receives a short message from the SMC 140 through the receiving-side radio base station 150, and delivers contents of the message by displaying the short message.
By using the mobile communication system having the above-described configuration, the SMS can be provided between the transmitting-side mobile communication terminal 110 and the receiving-side mobile communication terminal 160.
Since the SMS can be used in a public place (e.g., a meeting room or a conference where the use of a cell phone is forbidden) without disturbing the people around the user, utilization of the SMS is increasing. Particularly, as utilization of short messages has been recently increased, a short message service can be used as a messenger of a wired Internet when the SMS is repeatedly transmitted and received between two users.
However, a method for checking all transmitted/received messages at once is not provided, and therefore a user must select transmitted/received messages one at a time and send a reply for the checked message.
Accordingly, in order to provide a service for checking transmitted/received message at once, a mobile messenger service is provided. However, a user must register with the mobile messenger service and perform a log-in process for the use of the mobile messenger service. Moreover, the use of the mobile messenger service is available only within a limited community. In addition, since the mobile messenger service is provided through a relatively expensive wireless Internet for the mobile messenger, the user prefers the relatively inexpensive SMS.
Accordingly, it is required to provide a short message service that supports real-time message checking without requiring an additional registration process or log-in process, like a messenger.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.